Lower back pain annually costs the USA over $110 billion (doubling in the last 20 years) and is the second most common reason why an individual will see a doctor. One of the primary reasons for lower back pain is weak core muscles. Previously, there was no effective home core exercising devices that simultaneously isolates all core muscles in one simultaneous exercise motion.
An exercise method and device that can effectively strengthen all or many of 30 segmented core muscles, that is portable, effective, easy to use, and compact, and provides electronic instruction could provide many benefits. Exercising of the abdominal (also referred to as “Abdominal”) and back musculatures can improve lower back stability, sports performance, posture and physical conditioning/appearance. Even sitting at a computer or desk a few hours a day, causes significant core strain. Strengthening the core can have a huge impact in the work place and lower back physical therapy. Typically, the first muscles to be activated in a sport, such as golf, running, basketball, tennis and etc; are the core muscles. Strengthening the core muscles can significantly increase body performance and reduces potential injury. Abdominal protrusion (allowing free forward movement of the body organs and waist fat) or “the pooch”, can be due to weak core muscles, resulting in an unattractive appearance. Even though an individual is skinny, a pooch can many times not be eliminated by dieting alone. A solution can be strengthening the core muscles. The strengthening of the core muscles can provide an anatomical core girdle that can be more effective than any artificial girdle. Since fat has a low density, a strong core girdle can significantly reduce a forward protrusion around the waist.
There are nine abdominal muscle groups and each abdominal group can have a plurality of segmented muscles. For example, the rectus abdominis group (front body abdominals) has eight segmented muscles, the oblique's group (side abdominals) has twelve segmented muscles, and the serratus group has six segmented muscles. These muscles interconnect with the lats and back flexor muscles, collectively creating the core muscle group of 30 segmented muscles.
However, most abdominal exercise devices currently used in the home and gyms are single resistance apparatus that indirectly provide resistance to a single abdominal muscle group and without any emphasis on the back flexor and latissimus dorsi muscles. The total core is comprised of the front/side Abdominal groups, back flexor and latissimus dorsi muscles. Currently, there are no home exercise devices that simultaneously contract all core muscles in one single action; with minimal lower back movement. Moreover, if the abdominals are not contracted during the abdominal mechanical or non-mechanical exercise, the results are typically minimal. In addition, working core muscles separately can significantly reduce the intensity of the contractions and resistance of as oppose to multiple simultaneous contraction. Typically, the greater level of contraction of the core muscles, the higher level of fast twitch muscle fiber recruitment. This is why more resistance, less repetitions and slower anaerobic movements, can be more conducive to strengthening the core muscles. Fast twitch fibers provide anaerobic strength as opposed to slow twitch aerobic fibers that provide endurance. Many Abdominal/back machines incorporate fast movements resulting in very little strengthening of the Abdominal or and back fast twitch fiber muscles. As a result, an individual could be better off doing eighteen crunches slowly with a 30 pound medicine ball, as oppose to 300 crunches fast.
Furthermore, most abdominal exercise programs can require 5, 10 or even more different exercises in order to isolate all upper abdominal groups. Most gyms have four to seven different abdominal machines or abdominal slant boards. The process performing a number of exercises can take 20 to 60 minutes and involve extensive stress on the back and shoulder joints due to extensive movements required by many exercises and exercise devices. In addition, it can require the assistance of one or two trainers to perform some Abdominal exercises.
Anatomically, upper abdominal muscles differ from other muscles in the body like biceps or leg muscles, in two different ways.
First, abdominal or core muscles resist movement, whereas most other muscles propel a person. For this reason, contracting or tightening the abdominals during an exercise can be beneficial because doing so can cause muscle resistance. This can be conducive to muscles that resist as oppose to muscles that propel, resulting in further challenging of the muscle fibers or working out the muscle. Most individuals do not know how to properly tighten or contract their abdominals during crunch exercises, which can reduce their results by 70% to 80%. Muscles that resist typically need minimal movement to contract, whereas muscles that propel, like biceps, typically need a full range of movement. This is why many in the sports and academic community found abdominal crunches more effective over abdominal sit-ups. Seventy percent of the sit-up movement affected non-abdominal muscles, like the hip flexor muscles. Abdominal machines that incorporate extensive range of movement from twisting to bending have been found in scientific research journals to be ineffective or less effective than a crunch. An exercise and/or device that adds direct resistance to the abdominal muscles, comparable to the impact of a 30-50 pound abdominal medicine ball commonly used by professional boxers, during a crunch movement can beneficially result in a person contracting and tightening their abdominal muscles.
Secondly, the development of abdominal muscles can be difficult due to their non-jointed action. In comparison, jointed attached muscles like biceps are easier to contract: by simply moving the elbow joint. The abdominal muscles are not attached directly to any specific joint. This is why abdominal exercises with extensive joint movement can be inefficient and ineffective. In order to overcome this anatomical obstacle, an abdominal device is needed that can activate muscle groups that are inter-connected to abdominal muscles. Two specific examples of such muscles are the latissimus dorsi (attached to the side serratus abdominal muscles which connect to the front abdominals) and the back flexor muscles (attached to the anterior spine, which includes the abdominals; enabling flexing and arching of lower back). By contracting or activating the latissimus dorsi and back muscles, side and front abdominals can be indirectly activated.
The abdominal muscles can be comprised mainly of both slow and fast twitch fibers. Fast twitch fibers (as opposed to the slow twitch, endurance type ones), are composed of muscle fibers that provide strength and are thus designed for short exercise sessions with simultaneous explosion of extensive resistance and high intensity (anaerobic or non-cardio). In contrast, slow twitch fibers are typically adapted to provide endurance. Properly exercising slow twitch muscles can require long exercise sessions and low muscle intensity (aerobic or cardio). Because of these differences between types of muscles, fast-twitch fibers can respond best to heavy resistances and low repetition, in order to obtain muscular strength and development. Therefore, many individuals performing 50 to 100s of crunches, or using other abdominal exercises or machines that incorporate minimal resistance and extensive body movement per set (fast movements), can result in more cardio as oppose to muscle strength. As such, an object of a new abdominal machine can be to isolate the fast twitch fibers, in the shortest time frame, incorporating the highest level of multiple intensity and resistance.
What is needed is an improved abdominal exercise apparatus. Such an apparatus can include one or more of the following attributes:
(1) An apparatus that can simultaneously contract many or all twenty-four segmented abdominal muscles (within the rectus, oblique and serratus groups), lats and back flexox muscles, collectively constituting the core muscle groups. This could eliminate the need to use multiple different abdominal/back machines and/or abdominal/back exercises commonly used today. This type of apparatus could simultaneously contract many or all body core muscles, using multiple exercises and resistance in one device so that several exercises can be performed simultaneously.
(2) An apparatus that can incorporate multiple, adjustable resistance units. Each resistance unit can be adjustable up to 150 pounds of resistance, for example. This can provide a high intensity exercise within a short time.
(3) An apparatus that can provide direct resistance to the front abdominals comparable to the use of a medicine abdominal ball. Since the abdominal muscle resists as opposed to propel, such an apparatus can promote abdominal contraction during exercise.
(4) An apparatus that can provide adjustable resistance to the side abs, lats and back flexor muscles.
(5) An apparatus that can provide adjustable resistance to the front abdominal crunch exercise.
(6) An apparatus that can incorporate an electronic computerized personal trainer. Such a trainer could aid a user in performing a new methodology and exercise design that the user has never before experienced. For example, the trainer could guide the user through the proper form and technique with proper or optimal time frames of the repetitions and sets.